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| − | ==Eastern Europe 1944-45==
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| − | By the spring of 1944, Soviet forces had reclaimed their own country almost wholly and were pushing into the Balkans and Poland. After two and one-half years of siege, Leningrad was relieved in January, 1944. A series of probes against the German forces in the Dnieper bend, south and southeast of Kiev, beginning in December 1943 and continuing into February, 1944, showed the Germans were weakening--they had lost most of their air support and were short on supplies and reinforcements. In early March 1944 Marshal Zhukov's First Ukrainian Front (army group) attacked along a front of 60 miles in order to sever the Odessa-Lvov railway, Germany's critical lifeline for supplies. In the first two days they advanced 50 miles and captured the a key railhead at Volochisk on the main line, then kept moving. Marshal Ivan S. Konev's Second Ukrainian Front, to the south of Zhukov, launched a general offensive at the same time, and captured the great German logistics base at Uman. The German front was now untenable, and the Germans fled in panic, despite Hitler's orders to never retreat. By March 15 Konev was within 30 miles of the Dniester River and the Romanian border.<ref> See David M. Glantz, ''When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler'' (2000) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst;jsessionid=LjLQtM5yvBTN3SfvN4kpNXzb1gpNh17lTPtH7ljVqh3QYhQbmptY!875247955?a=o&d=111924465 online edition]</ref>
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| − | Next, Zhukov turned south and advanced on Chernovtsy, aiming to cut the last rail line between the German armies based in Poland and the forces still remaining in Ukraine. By late March he had crossed the Dniester and occupied the city. By that time, Konev's right flank had crossed the Bug River and moved up to the Prut; German resistance had ended, and the remaining Germans south and west of Kiev were trying to escape to the south.
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| − | Zhukov and Konev had moved generally on a southwest axis. In so doing, they had isolated the German forces remaining in Ukraine. By April the liberation of Ukraine was complete. At the same time the Crimea was recaptured. North of Leningrad the Soviets attacked the Finns along the Karelian Isthmus, broke through the Mannerheim Line, and on June 20 captured Vyborg. Finland knew it was hopeless, and sued for peace a second time. The victories in Crimea and Finland freed up armies for the main attack against the Germans.
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| − | Coordinating with the Allied landing in Normandy in June, the Soviets launched a broad-scale offensive with 100 divisions attacking the Germans at the same time, thus preventing reinforcements from moving to France. The Soviets recaptured the Baltics, western Ukraine and central Poland.
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| − | To the south, Soviet encircling maneuvers in August, 1944, forced Romania to quit the war. A coup d'étatd'etat by King Michael unseated the dictator General Ion Antonescu; the king pledged support to the Allies. On August 26 Bulgaria announced its withdrawal from the war; German forces began to evacuate Greece. Having already seized the Romanian oilfields, in September Soviet forces occupied Sofia and prepared to mount a campaign up the Danube River for the purposes of conquering Hungary and Austria. The loss of Romanian oil was the final blow to the Luftwaffe, which was running out of aviation gasoline. The Germans no longer had an air force of importance, so they moved their airmen into infantry units. The arrival of hundreds of thousands of fresh, energetic ex-airman proved a tonic for the dispirited Wehrmacht. The eastern front was static after September, with the Soviets near the German border. The Soviets needed time to recoup their heavy losses and reorganize in time for a final thrust in January 1945 toward Berlin. The winter was brutal but Moscow realized the Germans were weak in manpower, and lacking any reserves in transport, armor, aviation, or fuel. Crippled by Hitler's no-retreat policy, the Germans were unable to maneuver. They fought to the death.
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| − | In mid-January, 1945. all four Soviet army groups attacked. In two weeks 15 German divisions were trapped in East Prussia; they held out until April. Desperate German civilians fled west on rail and on foot, as the Russians robbed, raped and killed any they caught. In Poland, Zhukov outflanked Warsaw to the southwest, and with their rear threatened the Germans abandoned the city on January 15, while Zhukov's forces swept forward to Lodz. To the south Konev's group, after overcoming a strong initial resistance around Kielce, moved rapidly on Kraków and on January 20 crossed into Germany north and south of Breslau, established bridgeheads across the Oder River. By February 15 Konev had taken Bunslau, 125 miles southeast of Berlin. By mid-March Zhukov's artillery could be heard in Berlin. Hitler ordered new armies to rush to defend Berlin, but the armies did not exist and there was no help. By the end of March the German position on the Danube River had collapsed, and Soviet forces had crossed into Austria. By mid-April Vienna was in Red hands.
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| − | The Germans--massively outnumbered--fought to the death for Berlin; Hitler committed suicide. On May 2 1945, Soviet forces finally took full control of the doomed capital. On May 7, 1945, General Alfred Jodl signed the unconditional German nation surrender document at Rheims, France.<ref> See Antony Beevor, ''The Fall of Berlin 1945'' (2002)</ref>
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| | ==Far East== | | ==Far East== |